Reading time: 5 minutes
Economic indicators are as ubiquitous as financial commentators during a crisis, but what do they really mean, and why do they matter? Given uncertainty seems to dominate global discourse at the moment, we feel it is appropriate to examine the indicators that can give us insight into our economic prosperity in the coming months and beyond.

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Reading time: 5 mins
As the Novel Coronavirus pandemic has spread, we have seen continued interest in gold for asset allocation usage and as a trading thematic. Given its popularity in times of economic stress, we thought it worthwhile to re-examine the case for gold given the current market uncertainty.

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Reading time: 4 minutes
Given current sharemarket instability, we have received a number of questions regarding risk management and how to reduce portfolio volatility in times of market distress. Many of our investors have constructed well-balanced portfolios which incorporate fixed income as a counterweight to equities, but still would like an element of risk management for the equities component of their portfolio.

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Reading time: 4 minutes
Technology companies continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (i.e. driven by technology) is dramatically changing the way we live. People familiar with the US-based Nasdaq 100 Index will no doubt be aware of the phenomenal growth the technology sector has seen since the Global Financial Crisis,

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Reading time: 3 minutes
We are becoming more accustomed to the presence of robots in our daily lives, whether that be through automated vacuums or the involvement of robots in completing our online shopping purchases – robots are moving to the mainstream. However, have you thought about how they are shaping the way we work?

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This article was last updated in June 2019
Quick read: 2 min
This is the first in a new series of posts we are commencing in 2019, which we are calling “Behind the Ticker” (ticker being the name that some people use for stock code).

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It stands to reason that so-called ‘quality companies’, i.e. those with high return on equity (or “ROE”), tend to be able to produce good shareholder returns over time.
After all, if a company can generate high profits relative to its invested equity, it is likely to be well positioned to provide attractive investor returns over a sustained period – be it either through high dividends and/or high earnings growth from the reinvestment of profits.

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This article was updated on 28th November 2019.
There is no doubt that the overall investment cost differences between Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), traditional unlisted Managed Funds and Listed Investment Companies (LICs) have contributed to the significant in-flows and growing investor interest in ETFs over the past few years.

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